Today, the proliferation of wireless communication devices has provided the marketplace with powerful tools for communicating in real time. For example, the GSM wireless phone is quickly becoming a world standard for telecommunications. In fact, in many areas of the world, the GSM phone is replacing land-line systems as the standard platform for voice communications.
However, although such systems are well suited for providing customers with mobile systems for voice communications, as of today, such systems are poorly suited for delivering data over a wireless network. The systems that currently do exist for allowing the transmission of data over a network from a mobile system typically involve coupling the GSM, or other type of mobile phone, into an assembly of devices that can include a laptop computer, a cellular modem, and a GSM phone. With these elements coupled together a user can generate documents, faxes, e-mail messages, and other such media communications on the laptop computer system and then employ the wireless channel provided by the cellular modem and GSM phone to deliver the data across the wireless network. Although such systems can work well in certain applications, they are generally quite bulky, expensive, and involve too much overhead to be practical for transmissions of brief and quick data communications.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a communication system that is well suited for allowing a mobile customer to transmit voice and data traffic over a wireless network.